The Problem With Vampires Part 3: When Vampires Started to Suck

(This is the last of a three part history of popular culture vampires. It is not a good history, but it’s free. Feel free to read Part One here , and Part Two here ). At first, the change isn’t bad at all. In 1976, Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire . This book was breathtaking. Rice is such a powerful writer that she manages to create vampires that can be both empathized with and reviled at the same time. Louis is a tragic figure, and Lestat his murderous, black-hearted mentor/tormentor. We had no problems at all with this book. In 1985, The Vampire Lestat is published, and Anne Rice does the impossible: she transforms the maniac Lestat into an equally tragic character as Louis was in Interview. Yes, sex and sensuality are beginning to step out into the front, but Rice gets a pass since, while not the first to think of it, she successfully rolls it into a great story. 1987: The Lost Boys . Just the best. Horror and comedy combined to create a fun, but sti